Reginald Stanley
Reginald Stanley (c1838-1914) of Nuneaton Engineering Co and Stanley Brothers
1901 Living at Stanor? Court, Nuneaton: Reginald Stanley (age 63 born Hayle, Cornwall), Colliery Proprietor, Emloyer, Widower. With his daughter and Niece.[1]
1914 Died.
1914 Obituary[2]
The death is announced of Mr. Reginald Stanley, J.P., which occurred at Bexhill-on-Sea after a long illness. A quarter of a century ago the deceased was one of the most prominent men in the Nuneaton district, being identified with many religious, philanthropic, and benevolent movements, and he was never called upon in vain for assistance and sympathy. He was a Wesleyan and Liberal - he had declined an invitation to contest the Nuneaton Division. He built the Wesley Church, Nuneaton, and assisted financially in the construction of various other places of worship in the town and district. At one period he preached at special services in Wesleyan places worship. One of his gifts was 1,000 guineas to the Wesleyan twentieth century fund.
Mr. Stanley was one of the senior magistrates for the Atherstone Petty Sessional Division, but had not taken his seat for many years. He served on the old Nuneaton Urban District Council and Board Guardians, and was deeply interested in progress of Nuneaton Hospital.
As a young man he spent some years in the goldfields of America, and met with great success, amassing a considerable fortune. He saw some wild life in the goldfields and on the prairie, and made the acquaintance of ‘Buffalo Bill,' whom, years afterwards, he entertained at his Nuneaton residence.
Returning to England. Mr. Stanley became associated with his brother, and they were the founders of the well-known firm of colliery proprietors and brick manufacturers of Stanley Brothers (Limited), of Nuneaton, Bedworth, Stoke-on-Trent, and Willenhall. The development of this concern figured prominently in the making of Nuneaton, and between four and five thousand people have found employment in connection with it. Twenty years ago the business was converted into a limited liability company, with a share capital of £200,000, and the confidence the Nuneaton people had in the late Mr. Stanley evidenced itself in the way in which the shares were taken up. It has proved lucrative investment. Mr. Stanley received the office managing director and chairman directors.
In December, 1909, the deceased had serious heart seizure while driving his motor-car - it is stated he was the first man in Nuneaton to own such a vehicle - in the streets of Nuneaton. His illness may be said to date from that incident, and some time afterwards left the district. As a consequence the Boer war he suffered considerable financial loss, in South African investments. At Nuneaton Police Court yesterday the Chairman (Mr. H. Stubbs) asked the clerk convey the magistrates’ expression of sympathy and regret to the family. Mr. Stanley was over seventy years of age.